An old gas station on West Washington Avenue in St. Louis, Gratiot County, will be evaluated for potential environmental contamination with the help of a $26,000 grant from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ). The grant will help the
city of St. Louis determine whether the gas station contaminated the soil or groundwater.

Once the environmental condition is known, the city of St. Louis plans to market, revitalize and safely reuse the property. If the property is contaminated, the brownfield grant will help estimate clean-up needs and costs and could help protect a new owner from
liability for contamination.

The MDEQ partners with communities to protect public health and the environment and revitalize contaminated property. MDEQ grants and loans pay for environmental investigation and cleanup on brownfields. Brownfields are vacant or abandoned properties
with known or suspected environmental contamination.

Partnerships between MDEQ and communities have created $4 billion in private investment and 29,000 new jobs over the life of the Brownfield Redevelopment Program. Each grant and loan dollar invested by the MDEQ in 2017 to protect residents and the
environment is expected to return an average of $32 to the state's economy. When brownfields are redeveloped, property values increase both on the revitalized site and on other nearby properties. Learn more at www.michigan.gov/deqbrownfields.